To Those Who Perished
by The Teller From Gallifrey
Summary: 'There was a war. A Time War. The Last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. We lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family. My friends. Even that sky...' - The Doctor This is a compilation of many different stories of different Time Lords, a tribute to those who perished in the Time War. This is an OC story
1. Prologue

This is not how the end should come. It should be swift and silent, a moment of peace, the gentle sigh of the wind against hair, the whisper of leaves, a gentle swirl in the vortex. That is how the end should come.

Not in the middle of a war.

This war has been raging on for years. No matter how many times the enemy seems to have been destroyed, it returns in greater numbers. Gallifrey wasn't built for war, and it had been a planet of peace until they came.

The Daleks, they call themselves. Emotionless beings, built to destroy or be destroyed, to follow orders or to strive by themselves. The Dalek Emperor had promised us an alliance of sorts, a cease-fire, if you will. We accepted, hoping for the best despite the possible futures. How wrong we were.

The battle was unavoidable. Many had seen it in their travels through time and space. Many had witnessed first-hand what the raging fire of battle was to be. Yet most chose to ignore. Now, we are paying the consequences for our actions.

This is only the beginning. Darker days are yet to come. Yet we will not run away. We are Time Lords, not cowards. We will march on, with our heads held high.

The Time War has begun…


	2. The Teller's Story

'Hunter! Where are you? We were told to report to the Armorer!' the Teller called out into the darkness.

There was no reply, other than the hiss of burning metal.

'Hunter?' she asked again, taking a couple of hesitant steps further into the burning field in front of her.

She trod on something that crackled under her feet, and quickly shifted her weight onto her other foot, just in case anyone who could cause her harm heard. Treading lightly, she walked even further into the unsheltered area before she shrugged off her fear as nonsense and marched forward, scanning the area for any sign of the young Time Lord.

A hiss of smoke was sounded, and a cloud of the gray steam wafted up into the air, making her jump in fright. She took another, slow, careful step.

'Hunter?'

'Aah!' the scream was ghastly, more Dalek than Time Lord.

The Teller did not even stop to think. Abandoning all care, she ran forward, tracing the source of the sound. She found only a bundle of steaming metal, or so she thought.

'Is anyone there?' she asked.

The lump of metal suddenly started moving and turned until a bright blue eye was staring at her.

'DALEK!' she screamed with fright, backing away from the enemy.

'I must obey com-anders or-ders' the Dalek replied weakly, moving it's gun arm.

'No! Teller, get back!' a voice suddenly cut across the field and a sonic bolt shot out of the newcomers weapon 'Did it hurt you?'

'No, I'm fine. Do you know anything about Hunter? I came looking for him,' the Teller asked, running towards the figure.

'He was looking for you in the grove near the Citadel,' he replied.

'Well then…' she muttered.

'Come on. The Armorer was looking for you,' he replied and they made their way through the rubble in the field, heading towards the place where the Time Lord had set up camp.

'Who are you?' the Armorer asked, looking down at her.

'The Teller. You summoned me?' she replied calmly, looking up.

'I did. The General has asked me to tell you to move to the front lines. Report to the Strategist. She will give you orders and tell you your place.' He replied.

'Yes, of course. Thank you,' she replied, giving a small solute.

'You're welcome, young lady,' he replied, giving her a small smile before turning to the next Time Lord in the line.

The Teller shifted her gun and checked her sonic flute for any signs of intervention as she walked further onwards towards the frontlines. Up until then, she had been doing small hit-and-runs. Now was time for the big thing.

The Strategist's camp wasn't too far away, but it was in the center of open Gallifreyian scrub, with a small forest to the south. As she walked, she spotted other Time Lords, some walking aimlessly, presumably disturbed by the battle. Some were being carried on stretchers, hoping to be given time to regenerate before they died. Most were on the floor, crawling forwards across the wasteland trying to avoid detection as they performed their duties.

'You better get down. You'll be targeted acting invincible like that,' one of them whispered as he crawled by.

She got down onto her knees and began crawling, realizing he was right. She tried to ignore the smell of burning metal and the smell of blood that was on the air. She was almost used to it, by now. She found a small bush and hid behind it, taking a small sip of water before starting to crawl again.

Next to her a small clump of weeds began rustling and she withdrew her sonic flute instantly, prepared to attack if needed, until a face popped up from behind the weeds.

'Sorry if I scared you. Where are you going?' the owner of the face asked, giving her a small smile.

'The Strategist, you?' the Teller replied, replacing her flute in her pocket.

'Oh, good we can go together. What do you think of the Daleks? They're amazing creatures, aren't they? So cute and cuddly…' the girl in the weeds asked, brushing back her brown hair from her eyes.

'I'm sorry, but who are you?' she replied. Time Lords weren't known to be loony, but there are always exceptions…

'I'm the Dreamer. What's the time?' the girl replied as if she hadn't been interrupted.

'Great, I caught myself a dreamer,' the Teller muttered before turning around and continuing on to the tent.

'What was that you said?' the Dreamer asked, sending her a peculiar look.

'C'mon. We're going to be late,' the Teller replied and, grabbing the Dreamer's arm, continued on, dragging her along.

They finally reached the Strategist's camp, both a little puffed, and the Teller had had enough of the Dreamer's vague chit-chat.

'The Teller and the Dreamer reporting for duty,' the Teller called out to the Strategist.

'Good to see you, girls. Did you bring your sonic or laser devices as well as your weapons?' the commanding woman asked, looking down at them.

'Yes, we did,' the other girl piped up, wearing a strangely clear expression.

'Good. What are the weapons you choose to work with?' the Strategist asked, looking down at them.

'Sonic pulse radiator, with an electromagnetic beam,' the Teller recited at once while the Dreamer just held out her gun, a simple laser with a small communication device installed, looking like a last minute kind of addition.

'OK. Both you girls will be expected to join the Player and the Runner in their camp. We are running low on tents, we don't have one available for just the two of you to use,' she replied.

'Excuse me, Strategist, but I thought Player and Runner were Time Lords,' the Teller began.

'Yes, they are. Do you have a problem with that?' the Strategist asked, looking down on her disapprovingly.

'No, of course not. I just thought that Time Ladies were not meant to be sharing camp with Time Lords… I must have heard wrong. I'm sorry, Strategist,' she replied and shut up.

'It's no problem. Usually we wouldn't lodge young Time Lords and Ladies together, but times are hard. Good luck, young ladies. I expect you to report for duty as the first sun rises.'

'Yes, thanks. Good luck,' she stammered before turning around and starting to walk out of the camp.

'Dreamer! Are you coming?' she called over her shoulder.

'We're going? Where?' the girl asked, looking confused.

'Oh, come on,' the Teller told her, grabbed her arm and roughly dragged her away.

'The Player? The Runner?' the Teller called through the opening.

'Who is it now?' a male voice growled.

'I'm the Teller. I'm here with a friend, the Dreamer. We've been assigned to share camp with the Player and the Runner' she replied.

There was a rustling noise from within the camp and a Time Lord who looked not much older than her, showed his face. He had allowed his hair to grow long and wore it up; his gray hair matted and limp, which was unusual for a Time Lord already. He gestured them inside, casting a look outside before ushering them in.

As expected, the camp was bigger on the inside. Each Lord had personalized his section, from personal belongings to pictures of their heroes. She even spotted a collection of other race's forms of entertainment and sport.

'It's not much, but at the moment it's all we've got,' he said quietly.

'I like it. It's got a nice view,' the Dreamer commented vaguely.

'I'm guessing you're the Dreamer?' he said, tilting his head to one side.

'Yup! That's me!' she replied cheerfully, staring out a window.

'Where are we going to be sleeping?' the Teller cut in.

'There's a separate room in the back. We used to use it mainly for storage, but cause your…' he began, stopping himself from insulting them.

'Cause we're Time Ladies, you'd prefer it if we sleep in different rooms. I get that,' the Teller continued for him, regretting her sharpness when she saw the embarrassed look on his face.

An awkward silence descended on them, making the Teller shift uncomfortably. The Dreamer, as she was beginning to learn was her way, was staring out the window, face so close to the window her breath was misting it up.

'Can you see it?!' the Dreamer suddenly broke in, gesturing abstractedly at the sky.

The Teller looked, but couldn't see anything. She caught the Time Lord also looking out the window, but he shrugged to himself. He caught her eye and lifted an eyebrow, questioningly, but she shrugged, not knowing what "the one who dreams" was talking about.

The Dreamer turned around, her gaze suddenly crystal clear and focused, and said in a raw whisper, 'The end is coming. The end, and a new beginning, a new age, is coming, and yet silence will fall…'

The Teller and the Time Lord whose name she still did not know exchanged a glance. The Dreamer's words had an ominous tone to them, and she wasn't sure she liked the shiver that had run down her spine at those words.

'What silence?' the Time Lord asked, sounding curious and yet terrified.

'The silence will fall… The Bad Wolf is coming…' she began, and the two other Time Lords leaned forward, trying to catch her next words, but the Dreamer had begun to mumble incoherently and although the pair were dying to know more about this silence and the bad wolf, they kept quiet.

'Hey, umm, I'll go make some tea… Did you want the human's, the Time Lord's or the Druid's tea?' the Time Lord said in an attempt to hide how shaken he was at the Dreamer's words, getting up.

'I'll try the Druid's. Only half a teaspoon of sugar, please,' the Teller replied, trying to act normal, 'What was your name again?'

'The Player. The Teller, right?' he inquired calmly.

'Yes,' she replied, then muttered under her breath 'And what a telling our story will receive, and it's end, I wonder…'


End file.
